1532 - Jacque Cartier sails up the St. Lawrence

New France is founded by Champlain in 1603,
who was probably the noblest type in an impressive series of French
colonizers and explorers that ventured to the New World under the
banner of the lilies. For more, click here

Jacque Cartier was a European vanguard among the
Indians of French Quebec in the 16th century.

But in resource and
personal courage, his predecessor Cartier was matchless.
After thirty years of striving to establish territories for
the king of France in the New World, Jacque Cartier died in a small
fortress at Quebec.